In Memoriam ✓

Chapter Six: Snooze

Mallory

Autumn was upon us, in all its auburn glory. On our first day of university, Reid and I met with an unexpected surprise in our dorm room. After unpacking, I heard my boyfriend shout from down the hall. 

I burst into Reid's room, looking wildly around the empty space. "What on earth happened?"

Reid pointed at his bed dramatically, where a strangely familiar boy was lying down. He looked exactly like Reid, just a little older with a lighter hair colour. 

My boyfriend sat down on his bed, looking at me with a trace of embarrassment. "Mallory, this is my cousin Tony."

My jaw dropped onto the floor. Tony glanced up at me with a grin, brushing his shoulder off. "Don't worry, I'm used to making girls speechless."

Reid hit his cousin over the head, glaring at him. "That's my girlfriend, dumbass."

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "You have a girlfriend? I'm shocked. This is shocking news."

Reid threw a pillow at Tony's head, which made his cousin groan on impact. "You need help." Reid told him sternly. In conclusion, our surprise was namely Reid's cousin, Tony.

My boyfriend and his cousin were polar opposites. Reid was sweet but confident, and Tony was just plain confident. Sometimes, his behavior bordered on arrogance, because Tony knew he was good looking and he flaunted it.

One time, Reid discovered a package of condoms delivered to his room. Just a mysterious damn box of condoms; no name, no evidence of who it belonged to. But Reid and I knew exactly who ordered it. 

A week after the delivery, Tony peeked his head into Reid's room. He smiled once he saw me lying on Reid's bed. Reid was on the other side of the room, fixing a picture to his wall.  "Hey, guys. I was wondering if you saw a cardboard box lying somewhere? I promise it doesn't have condoms in it." Tony reassured us.

"Yeah, I saw a box like that. It was up your ass." Reid deadpanned. He abandoned his painting to the floor, opting to roll into his bed with me. Tony scrunched his nose at his cousin, then proceeded to hunt around the room, in search of his box. 

Reid and I watched Tony's antics from the comfort of Reid's bed. Reid ran his thumb over my exposed shoulder, burying his face into my skin. I wrapped my arms loosely around him. Eventually, Tony smiled in satisfaction and picked up the box of condoms.

"Who's it intended for?" I asked Tony curiously. Reid yawned, looking sleepy in my arms. I looked fondly at him.

Tony blushed. "No one special." With that, he left the room.   let Reid go to sleep, then I quietly moved his head off my body. I got up from Reid's bed in pursuit of my room, where I was going to call my high school friend Kennedy.

"How is university life treating you?" Kennedy teased me over the phone, when she picked up. We were facetiming for the first time since university started.

I smiled at her. "I'm happy to see you, Kenny. University's been great, so far. Cleo's bored of third-wheeling Reid and I. But we've met some nice people. There's this girl Nina in my Econ lectures. Cleo and Reid made friends with this guy called Nick, but I don't know much about him. And guess who's come to Collard?"

"Who?" Kennedy asked, looking intrigued.

"Reid's cousin, Tony. He's a year older; he's so funny. And a total cockblock." I wrinkled my nose, thinking about the number of times that Tony interrupted Reid and I.

Kennedy made a disgusted face. "I don't need to know about how you and Reid get it on, thank you very much. How is he, anyway?"

I smiled. "Reid's great. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but we're doing good, I think. You know how extroverted he is. He had zero problems coming in here."